The Moral Value of Fairy Tales

There are numerous genre’s in literature, but the level of importance and influence on an individual will differ. Exposure to books and stories is especially important for children because it their chance to acclimate themselves to written language and in turn create their own visuals for the toneless words. “Why Fairy Tales Matter: The Performative and the Transformative”, by Maria Tatar contains an ample amount of textual evidence from author’s research into fairytales, as well as writer’s personal experiences with fairytales. Although Tatar supports her claims with evidence, her resources are not concrete, and seems excessive at times. Also, her assertions are weakened by her failure to defend her conclusion against competing beliefs.

In Tatar’s article, An Introduction to Fairy Tales, she draws us in by describing childhood books as “sacred objects.” She takes a quote from Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. describing how the stories give lessons about what a child subconsciously knows - “that human nature is not innately good, that conflict is real, that life is harsh before it is happy - and thereby reassure them about their own fears and their own sense of self,” (Tatar 306). She describes how many adults long for the simplicity of enjoying those stories in their childhoods, only to realize that they outgrew them, and instead have been introduced to reality. The original stories were more for adults rather than for children. Nowadays, stories have been adapted to be more suitable for children. Fairy tales may allow a kid to wonder due to their charm, but they also can

According to “The Bedford Book of Genres” A Genre is a compositions kind, category or sort”. One type of genre in Children’s literature is the Fairy Tale. Fairy tales can be difficult to define as many of the characteristics cross over into fables and folklore. In the beginning fairy tales were original targeted at adults as well as children and were both oral and written works. It is a type of short story usually about elves, fairies, dragons, or other magical beings with the point of teaching a lesson and involving a far-fetched sequence of events. This form may be used by authors as a way of examining the human condition or to recreate a sense of the fantastic. They have a conventional, happy ever after style full of magic and romance.

Fairy Tales are not just stories that parents tell to their children, but stories with hidden valuable messages which are mostly left on a side. In the article “An Introduction to Fairy Tales,” Maria Tatar clearly explains how people need fairy tales in their lives. Tatar also states how fairy tales have the ability to take the listener, especially children’s, into a journey in which they can play with their imagination so that they can discover their deepest fears and wishes. Personally I agree with the author, because of the fact that in an individual’s lives as they get older, they will try to define themselves, sometimes comparing their own life with a character from their favorite story or Fairy Tale.

The birth of fairy tales is many times unknown, but their reputations have always remained the same. These tales not only attract children with their wondrous lands and magical charm, but they captivate the child by involving relatable characters with recognizable problems. While these stories provide mind-churning imagination, the lesson they provide does not cease to exist when the book is closed.

Fairy tales picture a world filled with magic, love and the triumph of the good over the evil. Fairy tales are a window to other worlds where the wildest dreams can come true and the hero always lives happily ever after preferably paired with his loved one. Although some people argue that fairy tales are full of stereotypes, filled with frightening monsters and promote racism and sexism I believe that they are wrong because fairy tales provide valuable moral lessons to children, teach them other countries' cultures promote the imagination and the cognitive development and therefore they should be read to young children.

For centuries fairytales and folk stories have been created and told to entertain and to explain the mysterious world. Each story holds a clear message for its readers but it also underlines more subtle messages that teach readers. Fairytales are especially targeted at an audience of children as those stories are told by parents each night before bed. But some of the stories that have been told for a long time across many different cultures have effected peoples’ perspectives more than is realized. One of the most popular examples of a fairytale that has been influential in American culture is the classic tale of Cinderella. Though the details of the tale can vary with different authors and cultures, aspects of it have

Growing up most of us were tucked into bed and our parents read us a story before going to sleep, fairy tales in most cases. I personally remember hearing all about princess , dragons and cute mystical creatures that always had a happy ending no matter how much they went though to get there. After reading the fairy tales in our text book i initially thought they were a little too grusm and inapporpiate for children but after analyzing them and thinking things through i concluded that fairy tales are more appropiate for children rather than adults. I believe fairy tales are very benifical for kids because they teach children right from wrong , help children build emotional resiliency and lastly they help them develop critical thinking skills.

The different ideas that authors have toward a fairy tale or any kind of writing has to do most with his or her professional experiences. Bruno Bettelheim is known to be a child psychiatrist. Bettelheim states “The child, as he develops, must learn step by step to understand himself better; with this he becomes more able to understand others and eventually can relate to them in ways which are mutually satisfying and meaningful” (Bettelheim 731). Bettelheim in this is talking about what he does. Bettelheim professional area is a therapist of disturbed children.

Fairy tales like Snow White and Cinderella both contain the struggle of good vs. evil. The struggle of good vs evil in these tales teaches us that good always prevails over evil. The fairy tales often times contain common elements that represent good and evil in the story. Both of these tales show the good and evil elements in similar forms. Both tales have the same outcomes where good prevails and they live happily ever after. These tales expose important concepts like good and bad for young readers. Tales such as these two can also teach young readers about good and bad things in life and ways of handling them.

Fairy tales have been passed through several generations. Listening to an elder read these fairy tales to us, expands our imagination as a child. These make-believe stories create fantasies at mostly young ages. For an example, a little girl may read “Cinderella”, then continue dreaming and pretending about becoming a princess finding her true love. These fairy tales help younger kids find the good in life and seek the happily-ever-after in every story. The common fairytale, “Cinderella”, has an interesting history, written with archetypical elements leading up to its moral and theme.

Fairy tales play a very important role in childhood. Children value these stories because they are entertaining and fill their heads with the idea that there will always be a happily ever after. In the original versions of fairy tales, they are not meant to be for children. The stories were supposed to be for adults and do not have happy endings. The rearranged versions of fairy tales today help children boost their imagination, distinguish right from wrong, and develop critical thinking skills.

Fairy tales are stories that allow kids to leave their normal lives and venture into a world of imaginary creatures, princesses, and magical places. The stories provide valuable lessons on confronting fear, overcoming a problem, and responsibility. The Fairy Tales that instill a sense of adventure and children connect with emotionally are classic short stories that have been around since the late 17th century. However, the happy, sweet stories that people grow up listening to are quite different than the original fairy tales. The Disney version of the story, The Sleeping Beauty, is a kind tale of a princess that overcomes obstacles and in the end has a happy life. The story, The Sleeping Beauty in the wood, written by

Melissa Taylor is the author of the article 8 Reasons Why Fairytales Are Essential to Childhood. The article starts off with a fact that “25% of parents surveyed and said they wouldn’t read fairy tales to a child under five years old because they didn’t teach a good lesson or were too scary” (Fairytales are essential to children). Taylor believed that parents have lost their reasoning skills completely and that fairy tales are essential to children. The reasons why fairy-tales are essential to children is because it helps children learn how to navigate life and it builds emotional resiliency. It also gives people common language to understand one another, and it teaches the basics of setting, characters, and plot.

Fairy tales are something that everyone has read or seen, they all seem to have important lessons at the end of each one to teach young children some of the lessons they need for life. These fairy tales when we were younger all seemed innocent and something we all hoped that would happen to us. Little did we know as we got older that the fairy tales we all knew and loved when we were younger, weren't as innocent as they seemed.